Tejay van Garderen (BMC) rode into the race lead of the USA Pro Challenge on Tuesday after dropping all his rivals on the uphill finish in Crested Butte to win Stage 2. It was van Garderen's first professional road victory.

The BMC team leader beat Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) to vault into the leader's yellow jersey with five days of hard racing at altitude still to come.

"Today was looking like another day similar to yesterday," van Garderen said. "Not 22 guys but 12 and some big names. It was not a weak break. We were lucky to get Matthias [Frank] in there—he’s a strong climber and GC rider. That took the pressure off of us and [left it] to other teams to chase. They did a good job and we put guys on the front with 20k to go and it all worked out.

"I wasn’t overconfident in last 4k that I would win, but I knew I’d try. When I saw Christian on my wheel, I thought 'Oh no,' because he was in perfect position and could out-sprint me, but at this elevation he had trouble with his acceleration so it all worked out."

Van Garderen's victory was his first since winning the Stage 3 individual time trial at the Tour of Utah last year. He was fifth at the Tour de France this year as well as the Best Young Rider.

"Last year the Tour of Utah time trial was my first and, until today, only pro victory. And since it was a TT, I didn’t get to put my hands in the air this is my first road-stage win as a pro. I’ve been counting—I’m up to, I think, eight second-places in my career, and a lot of third and fourths, but only the second first place. It’s a good one."

As for his main rivals going forward, van Garderen said he was confident he could beat Vande Velde in the Denver time trial on the final stage. But he is not ruling out others, including Levi Leipheimer.

"There are two summit finishes to go and Aspen stage, which is not easy," he said. "So it’s far from over."